Mr. Oscar Provincal, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, has said the reluctance to maintain healthy practices towards waste disposal was the company's major challenge.
He said this lack of attitudinal change in spite of the several educational campaigns was thwarting the company's effort in trying to keep
the country free from the garbage menace.
He was briefing the media, on Thursday, at Wa, in the Upper West Region.
Mr. Provincal urged the media to support the company with very innovative waste management ideas and educational campaigns to educate the
people to change their negative attitudes to keep the environment clean.
He also encouraged local FM Stations to use part of their air time to "Name and Shame" individuals, groups or institutions engaged in bad sanitation practices to deter others from that practice.
To avoid public embarrassment or disgrace, he noted, people would do the right thing.
Mr. Solomon Agyemeng-Duah, Communications Officer at the Zoomlion's Head Office, said despite the challenges, the company was bringing out innovative programmes and strategies that would position it to better deliver to Ghanaians.
He said the company was setting up a recycling plant at Medie to recycle disposable plastic waste materials into useable goods to keep the environment free from filth.
He mentioned the Zoom Farming Programme that seeks to assist farmers to undertake various crop production activities as well as the Zoom Kids'
programme that would help to educate school children to adopt proper sanitation practices.
Mr. Agyemang-Duah said Zoomlion had acquired about 450 tractors to be distributed to Municipal and District Assemblies as their sanitation package for the year.
He said Zoomlion currently had about 24,000 core staff with another 27,000 youth employed under the waste and sanitation model of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP).
He added that the company also had about 10,000 people under its Eco-Brigade Programme, 1,800 Sanitation Guards, as well as 5,000 people
under the National Malaria Control Programme.
The Communications Officer pointed out that Zoomlion believed in gender equity and as a result, Zoom Captains Project also sent 30 women to China where they were trained on how to operate heavy duty machines.
He said the company also undertook a vector control programme at Bui to stop the spread of onchocerciasis, adding that the Volta Lake Enhancement Project designed to manage disasters was also currently in progress.
He said with the aid of the "Bola Taxi" a new machine for carrying waste, regular clean up exercises would be organised at places where it was necessary.